Accountability Keeps Your Goals on Track

The gist: You’ll tell the truth more often if you think lying will be uncovered. And that’s exactly the accountability you need to stick to your most difficult goals.


When I started my business, I had a procrastination problem. I’d convinced myself that waking up at 9:00 and starting work at 11:00 would be fine.

It didn’t take long to realize that it wouldn’t be fine at all. I was accomplishing nothing. So I committed to a fix: waking up at 6:00 and getting straight to work.

Then, for months, I continued to wake up at 9:00 and putz around until 11:00. Just like before.

During this time, I remember taking a survey asking me about my daily habits. I reported that I was an “early riser” who woke up at 6:00 or earlier every day. I guess that was an aspirational answer.

This pattern continued a few more months until a friend mentioned he had the same problem and suggested becoming accountability partners.

The plan was simple: we’d meet each other on Skype by 6:05 each morning, lay out our plan for the day, and then get some important work done immediately after the call before eating, showering, or letting other distractions get in the way.

It worked brilliantly.

Suddenly, I was accountable to someone who could call me out. If I wasn’t there on time, it was obvious what happened; I’d slept in.

And, in a completely “Duh!” kind of moment, there’s now research proving a bit of accountability will take you a very long way towards actually accomplishing the goals you say are important to you.

Research tells us that a simple accountability trick like this can be the difference between success and failure for your most difficult habits and goals.

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